Tag Archives: Japanese Fishermen

Japan boosts fishing sector aid after Fukushima water release

The announcement came as more than 100 fishermen and locals living near Fukushima Prefecture were to file a lawsuit this week seeking to stop the discharge. The ¥20.7 billion ($141 million) in additional funding announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida comes on top of an existing ¥80 billion aimed at minimizing reputational damage to the industry and keeping businesses afloat. The beefed-up aid now totaling ¥100.7 billion is a reflection of the government’s “determination to protect” a sector already scarred by the 2011 nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, Kishida said. >>click to read<< 11:24

Amid tensions over Ukraine, Russia and Japan seal deal on fishing quotas

Japan and Russia have reached an agreement over Tokyo’s annual catch quota for Russian-born salmon and trout, the Japanese Fisheries Agency said Saturday, despite delays and chilled relations between the two sides amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agreement on Japan’s quota for the popular fish in waters near disputed islands north of Hokkaido is a relief for Japanese fishermen who were worried about the prospects amid worsening ties between the two governments. >click to read< 08:42

Japanese fishermen angered by gov’t decision on Fukushima plant water release

The controversial move came at “the worst time” for fishermen who are stepping up preparations for the restart of full-fledged coastal fishing off Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, after years of small-scale, trial fishing complete with safety checks for radioactive materials to win back consumer trust, ended in March. “Why now? I’m strongly opposed to the release (of treated water),” said Yoshimi Terashima, a fisherman from the Fukushima town of Shinchi. “I want to go fishing every day like I used to,” said the 73-year-old, who can do so only twice a week at present. >click to read< 09:10

Japanese fishermen, scientists confront eel problem

Off a dark coast near the mouth of the Hishidagawa river in Osaki, Kagoshima Prefecture, countless headlamps glittered and fine-mesh fishing nets fluttered above the cold sea shoals. Fishermen waded through waist-deep water as they carefully looked into their nets, only to lower them once more. Catches of glass eel, or juvenile Japanese eel, have reached critical lows across the nation. In Kagoshima Prefecture, a major eel production area, the total amount of glass eels caught in the 75 days from Dec. 10 — the beginning of this fishing season — was 19.5 percent of that a year earlier. >click to read<11:26

Japanese fishermen start morning wake-up call service to help you get your lazy butt out of bed

Need to get up with the chickens? Leave it to the men who’re already awake and hauling in fish. The just-launched Fisherman Call is billed as “The world’s first wake-up call service by fishermen.” On the service’s website, you’ll find a list of available fishermen, along with their photos, voice samples, and schedules, which have some of them getting up at 2 in the morning to make their way to the harbor and head for open water. That crack-of-dawn schedule is key, because as shown in the Fisherman Call promotional video, the wake-up messages aren’t pre-recorded. The fishermen will actually be calling and talking to you live, quite possibly from the deck of their vessels. Click here to read the story 11:23

Japanese Fishermen want workers’ comp for diseases allegedly linked to 1954 U.S. H-bomb tests

Former fishing boat crew members who developed cancer or heart diseases after being exposed to fallout from U.S. nuclear tests in the Pacific will apply for mariners insurance benefits more than 60 years after their exposure. If their illnesses are found to be related to doses of radiation, the benefits will be effectively treated as workmen’s compensation. The planned claims involve five former crew members in their 80s and two relatives of the deceased fishing boat workers in Kochi Prefecture, according to the center for supporting victims of nuclear tests in the Pacific, a citizens’ group based in Sukumo, Kochi Prefecture. Read the article here 11:07